Cnemaspis rajakarunai sp. nov., a rock dwelling day-gecko (Sauria: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis) from Salgala, an unprotected lowland rainforest in Sri Lanka

Abstract

A new species of Cnemaspis, Cnemaspis rajakarunai sp. nov. is described and is the fourth rock dwelling species belonging to the genus known from Sri Lanka. The new species is readily distinguished from all other congeners by the following combination of characters: adult snout-vent length 36-40 mm; precloacal pores absent, large femoero-precloacal scales 22; femoral pores 7-8, enlarged femoral scales 6; ventral scales 146-186; supralabials (to midorbital position) 7; supralabials (to angle of jaws) 9; total lamellae on finger IV 19-22, shape of the basal lamellae on toe IV elliptical; and its unique colour pattern. The new species is recorded from Salgala Forest an unprotected lowland rain forest.

A new species of day gecko (Reptilia, Gekkonidae, Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) from Sri Lanka with an updated ND2 gene phylogeny of Sri Lankan and Indian species

“…The two species were recovered to be sister taxa forming a unique lineage in the C. podihuna clade (Fig. 1) indicating speciation in the isolated mountains (Vidanapathirana et al 2014;Wickramasinghe et al 2016) in the wet zone of Sri Lanka. These findings further reinforce the importance of isolated mountains for the speciation of Sri Lankan day geckos.…”

“…Additional information on the morphology and natural history of Sri Lankan Cnemaspis species was extracted from the relevant literature (Bauer et al 2007;Manamendra-Arachchi et al 2007;Wickramasinghe and Munindradasa 2007;Vidanapathirana et al 2014;Wickramasinghe et al 2016;Agarwal et al 2017;Batuwita and Udugampala 2017;Batuwita et al 2019;de Silva et al 2019;Karunarathna et al 2019a;Karunarathna et al 2019b;Karunarathna et al 2019c;Karunarathna and Ukuwela 2019;Amarasinghe and Karunarathna 2020). Assignment of unidentified specimens to the new species was based on their morphometric, meristic and molecular characters, colour patterns and the level of geographic isolation.…”

A phylogenetic and taxonomic assessment of the Cnemaspis alwisi group (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) in Sri Lanka with a description of two new species from isolated misty-mountains

“…Specimens that formerly belonged to the Wildlife Heritage Trust (WHT) collection, which bear WHT numbers, are currently deposited at the NMSL, and were catalogued under their original numbers. Additional information on the morphology and natural history of Sri Lankan Cnemaspis species was obtained from the relevant literature (Bauer et al 2007;Manamendra-Arachchi et al 2007;Wickramasinghe and Munindradasa 2007;Vidanapathirana et al 2014;Wickramasinghe et al 2016;Agarwal et al 2017;Batuwita and Udugampala 2017;Batuwita et al 2019;de Silva et al 2019;Karunarathna et al 2019aKarunarathna et al , 2019bKarunarathna et al , 2019cKarunarathna and Ukuwela 2019;Amarasinghe and Karunarathna 2020;Karunarathna et al 2021;Amarasinghe et al 2021a). Assignment of unidentified specimens to the new species was based on their morphometric and meristic characters, colour patterns and the level of geographic isolation, and the species limits were tested independently by molecular phylogenetic methods.…”

“…Despite the recent resurrection of the genus Ancylodactylus Müller, 1907 to accommodate African species formerly assigned to Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Malonza and Bauer 2022), more than 200 species of Cnemaspis are currently recognized, making it the second most speciose gekkonid genus in the world after Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 (Grismer et al 2021;Uetz et al 2022). The genus Cnemaspis comprises 40 species in Sri Lanka, all of which are endemic (Manamendra-Arachchi et al 2007;Wickramasinghe et al 2016;Batuwita et al 2019;Karunarathna et al 2021). Sri Lankan Cnemaspis represent about ~20% of global Cnemaspis richness despite occupying a small fraction of the global distribution area of the genus.…”

A NEW DIMINUTIVE DAY GECKO SPECIES OF THE GENUS Cnemaspis STRAUCH, 1887 (REPTILIA : GEKKONIDAE) FROM PILIKUTTUWA, NEAR THE CAPITAL OF SRI LANKA

“…Simltaneously Manamendra-Arachchi et al (2007) also described another two species: C. phillipsi and C. punctata. Then, Vidanapathirana et al (2014) and Wickramasinghe et al (2016) described C. rammalensis and C. rajakarunai respectively. Alhough the identity of the holotype of C. podihuna has long been disputed (Wickramasinghe & Munindradasa 2007, Manamendra-Arachchi et al 2007, it was recently rediscovered and redescribed (Amarasinghe & Bauer 2009, Amarasinghe & Campbell 2016.…”